


stripped deck

by janie_tangerine



Category: Wild Cards - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Angst, Canon Related, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 20:11:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>There’s the hard fact that someone has come into her bar more than once and she has no clue of who he is, and that’s not something she can afford to let go.</i> Or, where there's a client who only shows up at the Crystal Palace once each year, always on the same day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	stripped deck

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moontyger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moontyger/gifts).



The man that the entire staff has dubbed _the mystery customer_ comes into the Crystal Palace just once each year. Chrysalis hadn’t really noticed him the first few times he showed up – after all, he only comes in once each year, but after the third, when Sasha commented that it’s weird that the same man came always once and always on the same day, she had started paying more attention. By the sixth year he’s come, she finds the matter at least intriguing. And why wouldn’t she? For one, he isn’t part of her usual clientele, and not only because _usual_ is a word that generally applies to people who frequent her establishment more like once each week, but that’s not all that piques her curiosity.

For one, the man doesn’t look like a joker. If he’s one, it really must be a well-hidden mutation, because from the outside nothing suggests he might have the wild card at all. Not that she’s ever seen his face fully. He always comes in dressed in a heavy jacket, jeans and cheap sneakers, the lapels always turned upwards. He also always wears a scarf that covers the bottom half of his face, and wears dark glasses and a hat. At times she thought the mutation might be in the eyes or the mouth, but that was before she saw him drinking three bottles of bourbon in one entire night – he had to take the scarf off then, and not only he didn’t have any mutation, but he also looked quite handsome. Chiseled jaw, nicely shaped face, strong hands with long fingers, and he looked quite young to boot; unless the mutation is in the eyes, then he doesn’t have any visible one. She’s never seen his eyes though, because he’s never come in without sunglasses even at night, but she knows he’s blond – some hair is visible even if he never takes off the hat. He probably wears them a bit on the long side. The only trait that suggests that he might have the wild card is that he never gets drunk before the third bottle of whatever he’s having, which is usually not plain beer.

Then again, why would some deuce whose card makes it hard for them to get drunk come to the Crystal Palace once each year always on the same day? She’s sure she doesn’t know him, even if he does somehow look a bit familiar. But then again, how many tall, well-built blond guys has she seen in her entire life? And how many did she bed, other than that? A lot, so she figures that the familiarity is just a side-effect of the man looking like what the ads try to pass as the stereotypical American quarterback. She’s asked Sasha about him, but the only reliable information he could share was that the man was extremely guarded and whenever he walked in, he felt extremely guilty.

That was what made Chrysalis think that maybe there was more to him. It hadn’t been just because of curiosity, though – there’s the hard fact that someone has come into her bar more than once and she has no clue of who he is, and that’s not something she can afford to let go. You don’t sell the kind of information she can sell and you can’t learn others’ secrets if you’re not entirely aware of what goes on under your own roof.

So tonight she waits for him. It’s the right day, and it’s barely eight in the evening, but he usually comes in at eight thirty. She’s not worried that he’s not going to show up. And she needs to talk to him in private, because she has this inkling about his identity, and if she’s right then a public conversation would be a complete disaster.

She’s quite sure of her deductions, though. After all, it was obvious that the day he comes in has to be some kind of anniversary, because otherwise why would he come just on that specific one? She had thought about it a minute, and then realized that it’s in fact an anniversary. It’s the day Golden Boy testified to the HUAC Committee. She had half-heartedly checked if any other important thing had happened on that specific day, but she had found nothing of import. And it wouldn’t have mattered one bit anyway. The man coming inside the Chrystal Palace is blond, well-built, young and might have blue eyes as well. He always makes sure he’s not recognizable. He’s guarded. He obviously doesn’t want anyone to find out who he is. It hardly takes a genius to put two and two together.

Now that she’s almost sure, she’s also genuinely curious all over again. _This_ would make for interesting information, because what would the Judas Ace do in Jokertown on the anniversary of his hearing? It’s not a story Chrysalis thinks could ever sell for a price – it’s old news by now and no one would care – but for once it’s not the point.

So she waits.

He comes in at half past eight, as usual. Now that she tries to see Jack Braun in him, the whole familiarity issue takes a whole new light.

She tells Sasha to put the first drink on the house and to kindly ask the gentleman to come to her office for a talk.

She doesn’t have to wait long. He’s knocking at the door barely ten minutes later, a half-full glass of whiskey clutched in his hand and holding himself very still.

“Please do have a seat,” she says amiably when he doesn’t move. “I merely wish to talk to you.”

“Why would you?” His voice is wary, but he does take the seat.

“Nothing personal, but did you really assume that I would not notice someone who came into my humble establishment more than twice, and more or less regularly? If you did, you’re either quite stupid or quite misinformed, and if you choose to come here in the first place, I doubt it’s the latter.”

The man visibly shakes his head, his shoulders slumping. “I hadn’t assumed that, but I was kinda hoping I would be the exception to the rule. I suppose that you know who I am, don’t you?”

“Why, Mr. Braun, I think you can take off those hat and glasses now. Don’t you worry, no one else knows, and I’m not going to share, for that matter.”

He does take off the hat and the sunglasses and yes – that’s him. Definitely. She remembers his face from the thousands of times she’s seen Four Aces photos, and she’s pretty sure she’s seen him starring in a few television shows at some point. He’s barely changed since the fifties, though.

He also looks entirely not convinced of what she’s just said.

“You aren’t.”

“Of course not. You obviously do not come here to be recognized, and I would suppose you have your reasons to. I only want to know why.”

“Why do I come here, I mean?”

“You will admit that _you_ out of everyone drinking whatever sorrows you have in Jokertown on this specific day is something that might make a woman curious. Especially when I am that woman.”

“If I tell you, do I have to find another bar next year?”

“Why would you? I’m not in the business of easy gossip, and whatever you tell me right now, I doubt it is information that anyone would ever want to buy. It’s just for my own peace of mind.”

“Guess I have no choice then.” He sounds resigned and not happy at all, but that’s his problem. He should have put into account that she would figure it out at some point when he decided that the Crystal Palace was the right place to drink his sorrows in. “Fine. I’ll give you the short version. Everyone thinks that I did what I did because I… I dunno, weighed options and decided that it was the convenient thing to sell everyone else out. It wasn’t like that. I had a moment of weakness and I said shit I regretted the moment it left my mouth, and if I could take it back I’d do it without thinking twice. Hell, I barely even realized what the entire point of it was until I had done the deed. I’ve regretted it since then until this very moment, but as I’m pretty sure you can imagine, it wouldn’t make a lot of good at all if I ever tried to explain it. You don’t know it until you’re served thirty coins next to your steak. What does it matter to everyone else with the wild card that I’m sorry?”

“Not much, I would suppose.”

“Right. Not much. Don’t mean I don’t feel guilty as hell still. And that at least this one time of the year I’d like a few hours to myself to get drunk about it. I’d think I’m not asking that much, but I’m still pretty recognizable and no one is interested in seeing my face in public. So I figured, where’s the only place where no one’s gonna ask questions if I dress so that my face isn’t seen?”

“That would be Jokertown.”

“That would be Jokertown, yes. And your place is everything but unknown. It seemed like a good idea at the time. So, do I have to regret it?”

Chrysalis shakes her head and sits back in her chair. She can see that he’s staring at her décolleté and smiles ever so slightly. “Of course not. That was a sufficient explanation and I only wanted to make sure I knew what was going on beneath my own roof. Also, I’m quite sure you never asked, but if you wish to book a private room, it’s possible.”

“ _I_ can _book a private room_.”

“Mr. Braun, I run a business. Running a business means that as long as you’re not a nuisance and you pay for what you buy, you could be the devil himself for all I care. And I guess that it would be easier to do what you come here to do if no one is watching. If you want to go back to your table instead, feel free to. The door is open.”

Braun stares at her for a moment, then shrugs as if he’s willing to believe her word for the moment. “Fine. Can I have a private room for the evening?”

“Surely. The moment this conversation is over, you may follow me to one.”

“Why, it ain’t over yet?”

“I wouldn’t know. Unless you have questions about my dress, it probably is.”

He goes immediately red in the face at that – damn, it’s hard to believe he’s actually at least forty years old if not fifty when he’s looking like a guy in his mid-twenties and he’s blushing that much.

“I was – I was just –”

“That’s quite all right. You wouldn’t be the first.”

He looks at her in the eyes again, then he brings his chair closer and lowers his voice, so much she can barely hear him, his cheeks still an interesting shade of red. “Maybe, but that wasn’t why I was looking. It’s – well, _something_. To look at. But if I may tell you a real secret, m’aam, then I’ll tell you. No one cares that I regret what I did, but I’m pretty sure someone must’ve guessed that I regret it every fucking minute of every fucking day.”

“What is that people don’t know then?”

He shrugs visibly again. “Why you think that I got married three times and none of them worked out? It wasn’t because of the Committee. It was because the only person I ever looked at the way you thought I was looking at you died – well, not a long time ago, but I haven’t seen them in years. May I see that room now?”

Chrysalis stands up without answering and waits for him to put glasses and hat back on before leading him out of the office and in one of the small private rooms at the first floor. While she walks, she mulls over what he’s just said.

Someone who didn’t die a long time ago but who Braun hasn’t seen in years. Well, it had to be a close friend, so obviously someone in the Four Aces circle. The Envoy hasn’t been heard of for years, but no one’s said for sure that he died either. Everyone else had died a long time before, though now that she thinks about it, it’s not true. Earl Sanderson died a few years ago if she’s not wrong, and –

Right. Three failed marriages. Now _that_ ’s a secret, she thinks, though not one that people might care about.

She can see the fact that he told her at all when he could have kept it for himself for what it is though, and while he’s probably very foolish if he thinks that she’s the kind of person that will bring secrets to the grave if she has enough reasons to share them, in this case she might as well do it. That’s the kind of secret that makes for only cheap gossip, and she doesn’t stoop that low.

She opens the door of the room for him and waits until he’s seated on the sofa, a small table in front of him. “A waiter will come in a few minutes. Order what you will and if you tell them not to come back for however long, they won’t. You can pay for both room and your drinks when they’re brought over.”

“That counts for what I already had?”

“That, Mr. Braun, is on the house.” She doesn’t wish him a good evening or something equally idiotic as she closes the door behind her and leaves him alone in the small private room. Before leaving, she sees him hunching over the table and looking down at his hands and for a moment she feels almost sorry for him.

She stops the first waiter she finds and tells them to bring her an amaretto upstairs and to see to the person in the second private room, and heads back for the third floor. She already knows that she’s not going to share what just happened with anyone – regardless of what he did, Braun seemed sincere enough, she’s hardly in the shoes to judge anyone and she doesn’t want to be the next person at whose establishment he gets served thirty coins. If anything, from what she’s seen he’s doing a great job of punishing himself for it on his own.

End.

**Author's Note:**

> This fandom totally needs more fic and I had this idea for a treat so while it's not exactly what you asked for in prompts I hope it fit the bill. :) (Also, I re-read bits here and there but I really couldn't squeeze Ace in the Hole or Dead Man's End in, so while I think this doesn't clash with anything that was stated in either of those books, if it was the case just pretend this is a canon AU /o\\) happy yuletide!


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